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Hollywood shuns Google’s presence at White House dinner, still angry over antipiracy legislation protest

Google is attending this year’s annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, but the movie-making industry is anything but excited about the Internet giant’s presence.

According to The New York Times’ blog, the dinner is a large Hollywood affair equipped with buffets, banquets, and after-parties, where entertainment stars, media moguls, and famed celebrities alike gather to party the night away and mingle with the country’s most powerful politicians.

Google’s Eric Schmidt is a fresh face on this year’s guest list, but many show business executives, still scorned by the defeated antipiracy legislation earlier this year, are perturbed that the executive chairman plans to appear.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based Company’s role in conquering the hotly-debated legislation, coupled with Schmidt’s co-hosted pre-event party with The Hollywood Reporter in Washington on April 27, is just salt on the wound for many media executives.

The Los Angeles Times even noted the party does not “go unnoticed in the community.”

On the other hand, Motion Picture Association of America’s Christopher Dodd told the NYT that he is a little more optimistic about the situation: “Maybe this is a sign. Maybe Google has decided content is important.”

The hopefulness ends there, though, as the M.P.A.A. decided to skip the party all together and claimed the association’s “continuing event series” as an excuse.

The NYT reported that Google representative Ms. Min seemed tickled about the event’s swirling attention, but she also reminded the publication that five major studios have formal streaming contracts with Google’s video-sharing platform YouTube.

“The policy disputes that have made headlines don’t reflect the day-to-day working relationship between Hollywood and Silicon Valley,” contended Ms. Min.

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